"In everything that happens look for the growing point. Every disturbance can disturb you upward", wrote E. Stanley Jones. As we meditate upon the idea of balanced life, let us realize that our balance is always dynamic and never static. It implies constructive use of any disturbance.

In walking, we get off the balance, and then we exercise our muscle power to restore the balance. Then the process continues. We move forward with determination because of our subconscious assurance in our ability to restore balance in the dynamic process of walking. The same assurance should be applied to other aspects of our lives. Remember, every disturbance can - and should - disturb us upward and forward.

We are self-adjusted beings, functioning in the self-adjusting universe. In the world where we live, every seeming problem is an opportunity to express ourselves in a new and exciting way, a spur to greatness.

We need to pay close attention to what is going on within us and around us to recognize those opportunities. This is why the Bible recommends:

"Take heed to yourself";
"Take heed to others".

Taking heed to others is different from following the crowd. Living connection with God makes us self-reliant person. However, through analyzing the crowd around us we might better understand that which is within us. The universe is full of signs which will lead us to higher wisdom and greater creative unfoldment - if we will recognize them.

There is a spiritual law of attraction which brings to us that which is within us. There is no need to guess what are our predominant thoughts: we may take a close look at our predominant manifestations.

This is why I don't believe in practical value of long philosophical discourses about "the world" in general. For us, it will always be "our world". We are always at the center of our world, and our world always speaks of ourselves.

Some people project their inner hurts, pains, and sufferings to the world around them - that's why their world looks so dark and gloomy. But such projection cannot provide them a solution. On the contrary, it only reinforces their problems. It prevents them from taking the personal responsibility for their healing.

James Dillet Freeman wrote:

"When I am the mud crawler, I look at my pond and say, "This is the real world". And so it is.

And when I have found wings, I look at the sky and I say, "This is the real world". And so it is".

What we need to do is to "be transformed by the renewing of our minds". There is no other way of transformation. Nobody from the outside will ever save us. But it doesn't mean that we should feel hopeless. There is always hope within, "Christ in us, the hope of glory". Christ is the divine potential within every person and every thing. All challenges which we encounter call for greater awareness and greater release of this mighty Christ potential.